In communication networks, traffic separation is a concept which allows that different types of packet traffic receive different treatment in user plane traffic forwarding functions, e.g. with respect to queuing, scheduling error control, or the like. For implementing traffic separation, an edge node may classify packets into different traffic classes, e.g. voice traffic, multimedia traffic or internet traffic. On the basis of this traffic classification, the data packets may be provided with a marking which allows a user plane traffic forwarding function to associate the data packets with the respective traffic class and associated forwarding treatment.
If the edge node is a residential gateway communicating the data traffic with the network via a fixed access, e.g. using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or coaxial cable technology, it is known to accomplish traffic classification in the uplink direction, i.e. from the residential gateway to the network, on the basis of port mapping. In this case, the residential gateway is provided with multiple physical ports which are each dedicated to a certain type of end device, e.g. a voice port for connecting to a fixed phone, a TV port for connecting to a digital TV or to a digital set-top box, and an internet port for connecting to a computer or other type of multipurpose internet device. The internet port may also be coupled to an access point of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), sometimes also referred to as a WiFi access point. In such a scenario, all traffic received in the voice port may be classified as voice traffic, all traffic received on the TV port may be classified as multimedia traffic, and all traffic received on the internet port may be classified as internet traffic. The data packets of the classified traffic may then be provided with the corresponding marking to be used in the uplink transmission via the fixed access.
As an alternative, the traffic classification may be based on a semi-static configuration of the residential gateway. For example, all data traffic sent to a certain Internet Protocol (IP) address or to a certain IP address range may be assigned to a certain traffic class. This approach may also be applied when the edge node is a mobile terminal communicating with a fixed access node using wireless access technology. Further, classification rules could be signaled from the network to the edge node.
However, using the above concepts of accomplishing traffic classification it may be difficult for a network operator to efficiently manage a large number of edge nodes in such a way that traffic classification is accomplished in a desired manner.
Accordingly, there is a need for powerful and efficient techniques for handling network traffic via a fixed access.